Because I do not believe who we are can be defined by our photographic likeness, my work pushes the boundaries of portraiture in the West to reveal stories that lie deep below the surface. These are stories that are as visceral as they are visual because what we feel is much more powerful than what we see.

To accomplish this, like a cultural anthropologist, I sift through the ordinary elements of our life--- from our habits, to how we spend our time or our money, to how we live, dress, organize ourselves or our belongings and how we communicate both in words and actions. My work involves questioning cultural assumptions and examining artifacts to discover the story of who we really are at our essence.

Clearly these are no ordinary portraits. If pressed, I prefer to be called a conceptual artist. This is because the idea comes first and then its form---the result might be a painting or a performance, a sculpture or a video, a poem or a short story. Key to my artistic process is embedding myself in my subject's environment and looking outside from within. My "portraits" are: individuals, buildings, organizations or entire societies.

For this website this work is divided into six categories. Click on any of the squares to see the full collection, however, these are only a limited set of examples of my work. For more information, please contact: elise.talent@gmail. com

Videos

Storytelling comes in many different forms. During my studies in Japan, I moved into the mass media in the mid-80s because I felt it was important to reach a larger audience than would normally cross the threshold of an art gallery or museum. In Japan I supplemented my exhibitions by writing articles for newspapers and magazines, but for a decade in China when the internet was largely unknown, I used both television and radio broadcasting as vehicles for building cross-cultural understanding.

"Apple Pie & Chopsticks: Sketches of a Woman in Modern China," is a 90 minute documentary produced by Fujian Television, one of the top four television stations in China. New to documentary filmmaking, I used my only advantage as an American turned Chinese "Daughter-in-law Number Two" working for a Chinese broadcaster, to give foreign audiences a rare glimpse into the real life of the Chinese in the 1990s. A Chinese edition of the film aired worldwide on CCTV. Note that the resolution has been compromised because it was transferred between several formats.

Interview with Jackie Chan is an excerpt of my work for China Star Television in Chicago. In addition to writing and hosting a show about Chicago for Chinese viewers, I interviewed film star, Jackie Chan, playwright, David Henry Hwang and concert pianist, Lang Lang.

"Chinese Stories: Anja," is my short, award-winning film collaboration with German photographer and writer, Anja Henningsmeyer, based on her book, CHINESE STORIES. Inspired by the historic city of Fuzhou, we hoped to document its rapid transformation in the 1990s. "Chinese Stories: Anja," aired on Southeast Television, the People's Republic of China in 1999. (In English, German with Chinese subtitles).

"Da Shi Ye," or "Eyes on the World" is excerpted from a series of six talk shows I wrote, directed and co-hosted for Fujian Television, the People's Republic of China. The aim of the special series was to help Chinese audiences understand the western world with more depth and compassion than gained from years of government imported foreign television series and films. I also introduced the idea of focus groups to Chinese television. These discussions were instrumental in the development of each of the six shows. This series had an estimated audience reach of 120 million viewers. (In Chinese and English with Chinese subtitles).

"Contretemps on a Frette from Marshalls," is an experimental work in progress in collaboration with Paris-based composer and musician, Isabelle Olivier. It was developed during her residency at Atelier 54. Like an opera, our intention was to fully integrate the music and lyrics, giving equal weight to each for telling the story. The setting is an escalating argument late one night between a couple played by Chicago actors, Emily Osborn and Jin Kim. Isabelle is the puppet master. The inspiration comes from Japanese Bunraku theater. Here is an Everyman and Everywoman confronting an all-too-familiar situation. This is the first public reading of the piece and was performed at Atelier 54 May 2016 in Chicago.

CNN Interview: "Apple Pie & Chopsticks: Sketches of a Woman in Modern China"

Excerpt from an interview with Jackie Chan

"Chinese Stories: Anja"

"Eyes on the World," or "Da Shi Ye," China's Premier Talk Show

"Contretemps on a Frette from Marshalls"

Artwork Japan

Without a doubt, while my years at Osaka University of Arts in Japan have been a powerful and enduring influence, specifically, it was the demolition of a friend's traditional Japanese home that marked a major turning point in my career.

The night before the bulldozers arrived, I telephoned my friend to ask if I could wander through her home and take anything that remained with the potential to become an interesting "canvas" for my artwork. These objects---ceremonial trays, a pilgrim's hat, the top of a hibachi grill, a wooden abacus, paper shoji doors and windows---inspired a series of paintings about Japan, especially its often jarring juxtapositions of ancient tradition and the cutting edge in every aspect of Japanese life seen most acutely by foreigners.

These "objets trouvés" were the perfect foundation for work that describes the philosophical contradictions of a traditional society undergoing rapid change. From this experience, it was clear that not only indigenous materials as these, but also language and other cultural paraphernalia, are valid indicators of a society's inner soul.

The "fan series" shown here is one example: these drawings not only reference the western world's fascination with the Orient at the beginning of the 20th century, but the imagery itself is compelling. Culled from the mass media---advertising posters in the country's subways and trains, call girl stickers ubiquitously plastered across the walls of telephone booths in Japan's cities and towns, and the mass media---television shows, newspapers and magazines---these simple contemporary artifacts reveal the values and conventions of contemporary Japan in the '80s.

Since this work was completed, I have continued to explore the potential of using indigenous materials wherever I work towards certain philosophical and psychological ends.

Artwork France

In the summer of 2013 I accepted an artist residency at LeCouveNt, a former 16th century convent now a music and visual arts center located near Rodez in southwest France. Previously a castle, the former convent perches visibly on the top of a small hill above the village of Auzits in a remote, almost forgotten area, accessible only by car and a few intrepid bicyclists on some of the most dangerous, winding roads of the Aveyron region.

These drawings began as a visual diary documenting my three week stay, evidence of a kind of artistic accident since, soon after I arrived, I abandoned my original plan to paint portraits of the villagers. Instead, I fell in love with the convent almost from the moment I stepped inside the door and decided to shift my subject from living human beings to a portrait of the generations of nuns who once inhabited the rooms and hallways. The first day I roamed the convent grounds in search of clues that would reveal the lives of the nuns. I opened every door, every closet, explored every inch of the place, but with the exception of a single photograph, a broken umbrella and two filthy prints in the attic, nothing remained. Coming to France with only a few art supplies, I also decided to use the indigenous elements of my new life, beginning with the daily newspaper produced in the village below. I walked down the hill almost every day to collect fresh bread and the local newspaper which I deciphered each night.

In the morning I gessoed each page of the newspaper to strengthen the fragile paper and taped it to my studio floor to dry overnight. The next day I gently removed the pages and then moved around the building in search of my subject. Using a soft German pencil, I rubbed old floors, walls, the stairs, even the cobblestone roof, and chairs and altarpieces in the chapel. With this as my foundation, literally and figuratively, I began documenting life there---from my morning breakfast, to the utensils I discovered in the convent's main kitchen.

The diptych, "Ode to Christo," was a departure from this work after I discovered two 1912 prints in the attic covered in decades of dirt and dust. Painting the glass with white acrylic paint to not alter the past, I joined the old images of the original print with my experiences as a Jewish girl living for three weeks in this ancient convent. It was an attempt to make sense of the history and significance of religious life in France from the perspective of a true foreigner.

The last work created at LeCouveNt was a series of sculptures to replace the artifacts I was unable to find in the convent. Using local French black clay from a ceramic center I discovered almost two hours' away, I sculpted objects I expected to find in my searches: an old French doll; a discarded leather shoe; a letter; a diary and an old mirror. I also wrote a poem or short story inspired by each object. Unfortunately I have not received photographs of work since the installation. My hope is for future residents of the convent to discover the stories of the former nuns--- in the bottom of a closet, peeking out from under a bed, or on the mantel of the small chapel.

Paintings and Illustrations (best viewed on a computer)

I have drawn or painted my entire life as effortlessly as breathing and professionally for books, magazines and newspapers. I have also designed for the stage in Chicago, China and the UK. The following is a brief selection of work:

"Zeitgeist 1," and "Chayim." represent a major development in my work to reveal the essence of life by juxtaposing subject, setting and archival materials. These works directly challenge the western tradition of portraiture as simply a photographic representation.

"Who are we? Are we merely what we look like or are we also the sum total of what we wear, what we own, what we discard, and the words and things we use in everyday life?"

"Zeitgeist 1," was completed over a four month period in 2014. It consists of 24 iconic but small (6" x 6") paintings in acrylic, gouache and pencil. The images themselves can be read like the Chinese have read books or newspapers for the past 5000 years: This is because Chinese characters are ideographic: images that must be combined to form meaning.

The painting/sculpture takes the form of a paper house. This is a reference to the burial houses that can be found in traditional Chinese shops throughout Asia: everything necessary for the afterlife is fashioned out of paper---from washing machines and television sets, to IPHONES and IPADS and computers. Families purchase these houses to be burned at funerals and sent to their loved ones. It is as well the house or "body" of the subject at a particular point in life.

Peering through the house's window, one can see a small bed with a book-like flash drive on the bedspread containing writings, videos and photographs culled over a lifetime.

"Chayim," is an examination of one immigrant's journey in the 1900s from Russia to America. It combines the traditional material of egg tempera with archival materials---including a long, white glove one might wear to the opera and a string of ceramic pearls. The story of the heroine of "Chayim," is written at the back of the triptych. This work is part of a series of embedded stories which inform the work, but are not intended to be read.

"Witness by a Jew," is another example of work combining archival material and painting. The two prints from 1912 were discovered during a search of the entire convent where I spent my artist residency at Le CouveNt, Auzits, near Rodez, France. The prints were the only remains of the life that inhabited this convent that dates back to the 16th century. I painted on the glass of the prints with acrylic paint, documenting my perceptions of the print and the experience of living in the former convent.

"The Visionary," is another iteration which challenges the traditional western concept of portraiture. In this example suggesting a new form of portraiture, the sculpture represents (and contains) every pair of eyeglasses its subject wore in his 88 years; beyond this, the work is virtually a visual poem suggesting the "lens" he used to see the world. As in any life, one's view of life defines us. The top of the "totem" is the last pair of glasses he wore which is encircled by a wreath of illuminated branches similar the ancient Roman custom of using the wreath to symbolize honor and moral virtue. This is because our intention, after all, is honorable although ultimately, our actions are inextricably and unconsciously bound to way we see the world.

"Seeing is Believing," is an installation mounted on 4.5 inch wooden bases that continues the ideas begun in "European Walkabout"---similar to the process of forming memories, our brains instantly begin assembling images and naturally assign opinion and meaning in real time but also retroactively. Every traveler views his reality is its own reality: accuracy is not guaranteed.

"Consumption," "Political Animals," "Portraiture,""How to Live," and "Political Animals" are part of a series entitled, "European Walkabout ." They are like visual "poems." Like "Seeing is Believing" and "Zeitgeist 1" and "The Visionary," these paintings are examples of the "whole is equal to the sum of its parts,"i.e., their meaning is dependent on the combination of images from the 90 day journey through Europe.

"Paradise Lost," is inspired by Proust's novel, IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME and the inheritance of a piece of embroidery. The meaning is in the eye of the beholder but note that the "child"in the mother's arms is a full grown woman. The embroidery, begun by her mother, was unfinished by her death.

"Epic" or "After William the Conqueror," directly addresses the experience of crossing borders and cultures. It also refers to William's classic journey 9 centuries' ago brilliantly recorded in the Bayeux Tapestry seen last October.

"Floors I have Crossed," is a visual record of the European Walkabout crossing 8 countries and borders and 14 cities in 90 days.

(Illustrations)

Throughout my career, the use of archival materials is an important component. The fan drawings seen here reference the fan iconic shape popular in the West at the end of the 19th century, however, instead of the traditional ink and Japanese paint, I used pencil and images sourced from Japan's contemporary mass media.

Other illustrations seen here are from books in progress and a book published last summer by the largest publisher in China. The drawings of protein peptides are inspired by Edward Gorey. They appeared in a book for teenagers that portrays peptides as comic book superheros.

"Juxtaposition," was created using a 1937 French advertising magazine discovered during my artist residency in southwest France in 2013. It is the beginning of a series comparing modern day France with France in the 1930s.

Etchings

These are working photographs of etchings created during an apprenticeship with master printer, Julian Cox at Evanston Art Center, Illinois.

"Cycle of Life," includes a collage from the famous painting, "American Gothic." The text in blood red ink documents the full lifetime of a woman in the 20th century.

"Untitled," is a drypoint created during a two hour session with a studio model.

"Revolutionary Lovers," is an etching of family friends, Lao Zhu and his wife. It is a portrait of the couple as revolutionary lovers and senior citizens. Like many of my etchings, the print is embellished with touches of colored pencil and acrylic.

Sculpture

Every work has its own challenges. How to tell the story? What medium is best? Should it be a portrait told in words, an installation, a painting, a sculpture, video, performance, or a combination of all the above?

"Beyond Time," is one of the most ambitious works in the collection. The sculpture tells the story of attending the funeral of a family friend which is a rare and unusual honor for any foreigner living in Japan. Inspiration was instant, as I bent down to tuck handfuls of flowers beside her---and as men in black suits were hectically cutting down the enormous bouquets on the stage above the casket---in my mind's eye, I saw her face in porcelain nestled within the white lilies and carnations, a peaceful goddess resting in the company of loving friends and family.

The first photograph shows the underside of the piece. When installed at a 45 degree angle, the mirrored platform reflects handmade red felt flowers and a letter nestled within. The letter is a poem of farewell to the mother of my dear friend of 25 years. A loving mother until the very end, she must have known her days were waning and sent my son and I roundtrip tickets to bring us to her daughter's side. Then she passed away 48 hours after our plane landed.

"Beloved," was a commission to honor the memory of a wife and mother. I met with the subject's daughter who decided to commission a painting of her mother as a gift to her father suffering his wife's recent passing. All I had was a single, black and white photograph and her daughter's stories. The work is about memory and also about how true love transcends our physical selves, living on in those we leave behind. To the right of the oil painting is a mirror and the words, "Beloved," painted in glitter and acrylic.

"Kate's Box," is literally a box for love letters exchanged between a godchild and her fiancé. It is a reminder about romance but equally, about of the importance of keeping one's boundaries even within a marriage.

"Farida Sculpting," is a sketch in porcelain of the artist she sculpts one of her large abstract works. It was inspired by an evening at the symphony---watching the musicians play, I tried to imagine them with their instruments completely erased---without their instruments, the audience might pay attention to the skillful and graceful movements of the musicians' arms and the expression on their faces.

"Tigerman and his Beloved Boardwalk," 2013, was a mural commissioned to honor Chicago architect, Stanley Tigerman and the design of his first high rise. After an extensive interview with the architect and research of his papers at the Art Institute of Chicago, the mural was conceived as a grid of 16 paintings on a panels attached to a single sheet of plexiglass. The design adds an internal window in the apartment's dark lobby and echoes Tigerman's recurring motif of a geometric grid skeleton lying inside buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe. The plexiglass solved the technical problem---the Uptown condominium's board specified that the artwork be installed without any visible hardware. Quotes about the building are silk-screened to three panels to remind residents of the history of the building and Tigerman's design philosophy.

The series of fans seen here are part of an ongoing installation tentatively entitled, "Yohaku," which describes Japanese society's exquisite visual literary that pervades every aspect of life in Japan. From the way items are arranged in a supermarket. or as mundane a setting as a 7/11 convenience store, to the asymmetrical shape of a bottle of mosquito repellant and the graphic design of printed material---books, magazines, newspapers, print advertising---in Japan, everything one's eyes alight upon is designed; there is a unspoken respect for the areas around an object that commands equal importance to the object itself. The images are painted on blank paper fans purchased in a One Yen Store, based on a plethora of photographs taken during my one month stay in Japan. A central element of the fan installation is the funeral of a family friend emphasizing the beautiful and emotional core of the ceremony. Other images include: a famous biscuit shop in Kyoto with its foodstuffs arranged as neatly as a puzzle; a couple of school girls on their way home from school; a maker of Japanese bean cakes in the basement of a department store supermarket and an ordinary rice cooker standing on my friend's kitchen counter. The work summarizes my return to Japan after a nearly 25 year absence.